Free Web NovelChapter 7: Intimidating Me?
As Alden sat there stiffly, completely ignoring the dark shadow looming over him, the atmosphere rapidly changed. In the opposite seat across from him, Alicia stopped eating. The momentary peacefulness in her striking lavender eyes vanished instantly, turning freezing cold.
She looked coldly directly at the person standing behind his back.
Suddenly, the person stepped forward and heavily placed a hand down on Alden’s shoulder. The guy then casually sat down in the empty seat right beside him, acting completely calm as if he owned the entire cafeteria.
Alden didn’t speak a single word as he paused his eating. He slowly looked beside him. A boy with bright violet hair and piercing violet eyes was sitting right there. He had a lean, athletic build and wore several highly luxurious magical artifacts around his neck, wrists, and fingers. His entire appearance practically screamed of high nobility.
Alden didn’t look even the slightest bit intimidated by the display of wealth and power. He remained perfectly silent as he turned his head toward him.
But the guy didn’t even give Alden a single glance. His arrogant gaze was fixed entirely on the silver-haired girl sitting across from them. He wore a highly practiced, bright smile on his lips, acting as if he wasn’t even slightly bothered or intimidated by Alicia’s deadly cold glare.
"Hello, Alicia~ it is so nice to meet you again after so much time has passed..."
Alicia just stared at him blankly for a few seconds. Then, she casually looked away with a dismissive gaze, treating him as if his very existence didn’t concern her in the slightest. She completely ignored the guy and went right back to focusing on gracefully eating her lunch.
’Haha... Critical hit! She really is incredibly cool.’
Alden quickly glanced at the guy sitting beside him.
Just as he had expected, the arrogant boy was looking blankly at her in sheer disbelief. His free fist clenched tightly on his lap, and he secretly gritted his teeth. He tried his absolute best to remain as calm as possible to save face. But out of frustration, his hand resting heavily on Alden’s shoulder tightened like an iron vice, making Alden uncomfortable.
’Damn! F*ck! Is this scumbag actually trying to kill me?! My body is unable to move away from his grasp. Just how much stronger is this guy compared to me?!’
The violet-haired guy beside him forced that highly practiced, fake smile back onto his face and spoke again.
"Alicia, my dear~ I am truly sorry..."
*Choke!* *Cough!* *Cough!*
Alden violently choked and coughed on his food. He suddenly felt like his brain had completely died from the sheer cringe of the words uttered by the guy beside him. He looked up at Alicia. She looked entirely unbothered and completely unaffected by his cheesy words.
The guy finally turned his head to look down at Alden. He looked visibly annoyed by the sudden disturbance. he tightened his painful grip on Alden’s shoulder even further. But his face still wore that same practiced, fake smile, trying to hide his actual raging emotions.
"Are you okay in there?" he asked, trying to sound like he actually cared.
Alden forcefully swallowed his bite of food and replied completely calmly.
"Can you remove your hand from my shoulder? It is making me uncomfortable while I am trying to eat my lunch."
The guy narrowed his eyes. He didn’t say anything back right away, but he also blatantly refused to move his hand away from Alden’s shoulder.
"Who exactly are you? From which class are you from?"
Alden didn’t reply for a long moment. He just sat there and looked right back at him with a deadpan, calm face.
"I said, take your hand off me. Are you deaf? And besides, you should properly introduce yourself first before asking for another person’s name."
Suddenly, Alden felt the crushing grip on his collarbone tighten even more, threatening to snap his bones. But after a few tense seconds, the guy finally pulled his hand back. He wore a amused smile on his lips, and his facial expression seemed composed. But his violet eyes were incredibly dangerous, looking as if he was planning to burn Alden alive on the spot.
"You know what? You are actually right. You have my apologies. I am Kaelian Vorcelis. I am the heir of the Vorcelis family, and the proud son of the strongest SS-ranker inside the entire Human Continent. I am currently in Class B."
Alden looked calmly toward Kaelian. He didn’t look even slightly intimidated by that massive, overblown introduction—or at least, he didn’t show any fear outwardly.
’Damn it all. Am I literally just collecting the introduction of every single SS-ranker’s heir in this academy? Why the hell is this world constantly pushing me into these dangerous situations against my own will?’
"So, are you going to introduce yourself now? Or should I just naturally presume that you are nothing but a filthy commoner?"
"I am Alden. I am the exiled son of the Astra family..."
"Mhmm... So you are that famous exiled son, I heard that once upon a time, the Astra family was famous all around the world. It was an incredibly prestigious noble family that consistently produced several strong prodigies across many generations. They strictly worked for the protection of the entire world. They were widely considered to be the most loyal family, serving the human nation for their entire lives. They practically carved their own name into the history of the world..."
Kaelian paused, a dark smirk forming on his face.
"But it seems the mighty Astra family has faced way too many tragedies over time. They completely lost their ultimate power, and their unique bloodline ability eventually got lost to history... Sigh... What a pity."
Kaelian said all of this calmly, without showing even a single ounce of actual pity in his arrogant expression.
Alden didn’t reply to the obvious bait. Instead, his mind flashed back, and he remembered the tragic history of his own bloodline. He clearly remembered from the original owner’s memories that the Astra family was indeed once considered one of the most highly renowned families in the entire world. But as time passed by, their bloodline power got mixed with outsiders. It slowly decreased generation after generation, until the true, overwhelming power of their bloodline was completely lost in history.
Right now, the current Astra family was nothing but a low-tier noble family that was simply considered loyal to the nation. And Alden himself was widely considered to be a useless stain on that falling family. Because of his meager talent, he was exiled from his own home.
The current Alden did not care about his so-called family or their ruined name. He had zero personal feelings for them. But because he still carried the deep, lingering memories of the past Alden, he suddenly felt his chest tighten with grief and sadness, even though he really didn’t want to feel those useless emotions.
Kaelian smirked darker and continued pushing.
"Oh, I also perfectly remember that the Astra family exiled their completely useless, trash son recently. It seems that pathetic person was actually you."
Alden just calmly picked up his fork and tapped it quietly against his plate. His eyes remained totally blank as he stared off into absolutely nothing. His facial expression stayed unnervingly calm.
Oblivious to Alden’s total lack of reaction, the guy sitting right beside him kept insulting him with his venomous tone.
"I also heard you have an incredibly frail physique. You can’t even run for five whole minutes without collapsing on the ground. I am actually curious, how the hell did you even enter the Arcane academy? It seems impossible for someone as weak as you to pass the entrance exams."
He leaned in closer.
"Oh, right! I also remember that your older brother was even more talented than you in every single way. How pathetic of you. To think such a waste of space was born into such a historically great house. Hah... It is a really good thing that your family finally threw out the trash and exiled you."
Suddenly, Kaelian abruptly stopped talking.
A thick, deadly layer of frost rapidly began to cover the entire table. The hand Kaelian had casually rested on the tabletop froze instantly. Thick ice coated his skin, and his fingers were paralyzed in place for a solid moment.
From the exact opposite side of the frozen table, Alicia finally turned her beautiful face toward him. Her striking eyes were freezing cold and completely emotionless.
"You are being annoying..."
